Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson traveled to Independence, Mo., to sign legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid. Ronald Reagan warn[ed] it would lead to socialized medicine. Critics of the 1965 legislation warned that both [Medicare and Medicaid] programs would spend much more than supporters predicted, that price controls and rationing of care would follow and that the quality of care would eventually suffer. All of the warnings have proved correct. In 1965, the House Ways and Means Committee estimated that Medicare Part A, which covers hospital bills, would cost $9 billion a year by 1990. But the actual cost after...

A legal battle has broken out in Oakland, California, over whether construction companies should be forced to pay for public art in building projects. An alliance of firms in Oakland is suing the city over laws that came into effect in February forcing them to spend between 0.5% and 1% of any project’s budget on public art. There are more than 200 such public art ordinances across the United States and construction bosses will be closely monitoring the outcome of the lawsuit. Artists in Oakland, meanwhile, are fearful that a victory for the firms will be a defeat for culture...

It certainly is satisfying to see the Republican Party establishment squirm at the meteoric rise of Donald Trump to front-runner status in the GOP presidential race. You don’t have to like everything Trump says to enjoy watching him topple icons, expose shibboleths and challenge his fellow candidates to be political leaders instead of poll readers. Clearly, on one issue after another, billionaire Trump is ringing the bell with everyday GOP voters, while his opponents are shooting themselves in the foot. It all started on June 16 when Trump announced his campaign with an impromptu speech at the eponymous Trump Tower...

However, 25 years later the themes of this film still resonate with Trump's character. A quarter of a century later, here it is. In 1988, Leonard Stern commissioned the film as part of a celebrity businessman series. Here's a Huffington Post piece about the documentary by its original writer, and here's the press release announcing the online debut-it appears that the film covers some allegations... Trump grew wealthy during the 80's, the start of the "me generation" of moneymakers, and the "decade of greed". In it, he was revealed to be "the opposite of a small-government conservative" and someone who'd...

Aaron and Melissa Klein of Gresham, Oregon, have learned how dangerous it can be to fail to support “gay marriage” in this day and age. The now-infamous bakers refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple and were subsequently slapped with a $135,000 fine from the state of Oregon. Negative national publicity forced them to shut down their bakery, Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Outrage from progressives has essentially ruined the Kleins’ lives, but journalist and author Jack Cashill, who wrote the forthcoming “Scarlet Letters: The Ever-Increasing Intolerance of the Cult of Liberalism,” believes this incident ultimately is not...

No good deed goes unpunished. The truth of that adage was confirmed in spades last week when a Montana couple, Jason and Tara Shane, described as Good Samaritans for helping a stranded young, Mexican motorist were shot and killed for their effort. Their daughter, Jorah Shane, 26, was wounded. Jesus Deniz Mendoza, 18, a Mexican national who entered the United States legally two years ago, shot the Shanes when they stopped to assist with a broken-down car. Shortly after the shooting, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement indicated that Mendoza had legally entered the country from Mexico through the San Ysidro...

The Obama administration’s lawlessness reached a pinnacle last week after videos of Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses began to surface. In the Senate, amendments to de-fund Planned Parenthood were filed but not passed. Meanwhile, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who was confirmed thanks to 10 Republican Senate votes, announced she would be launching an investigation as a result of the videos… into their producers. So when evidence of illegal activity by a constituent organization within the Democratic Party’s constellation is produced, this administration investigates the whistleblower. And does so in broad daylight. Nothing is...

History has shown that when a government wants to solidify its power, it has to turn its subjects into taxpayers. The Roman Empire demanded high tribute payments from every tribe it had newly conquered. And the United States developed from a commonwealth to a federal state when, in the 18th century, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton achieved uniform duties and taxes for the entire union, initially on whiskey, because it was so lucrative. Politicians in the eurozone are now seeking to emulate the historic model from the early years of the United States. The unnerving bargaining over the latest Greece bailout...

Former SC Democratic party chair Dick Harpootlian told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki Sunday Vice President Joe Biden’s consideration of a presidential run actually gives Democrats the best chance of retaining the White House in 2016. Harpootlian said Hillary Clinton’s track record will cause her and the Democrats to “die a death of a thousand cuts,” yet Biden is “an inspirational figure” that voters can rally around. HARPOOTLIAN: I think Hillary comes into the race, as she did in ’08 with all kinds of baggage… There’s going to be distractions, we saw just this week with the Wall Street Journal about payments...

A second financial ratings agency has downgraded Chicago Public Schools’ debt rating to junk status, reinforcing Wall Street’s dim view of the district’s finances. Fitch Ratings on Monday downgraded billions of school board bonds to its “BB+” ranking, which it said reflected the “limited progress” CPS has made to address a vast budget gap as well as the district’s meager cash reserves. Fitch said those reserves are likely to be extinguished by next year. District officials have announced $200 million in spending cuts. Fitch said the district also will require “a combination of tax increases, contributions from the state and...

President Obama on Saturday celebrated his upcoming birthday with an annual tradition: hitting the links with a group of old friends. The president — who turns 54 on Tuesday — and his friends played golf at Joint Base Andrews just outside the Beltway before heading up to the Camp David presidential retreat for the rest of the weekend.

Senate Republicans this week, teeming with righteous indignation, introduced S. 1881, “a bill to prohibit federal funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.” Here’s a better name for it: the Abortion Promotion Act of 2015. No doubt the authors of the legislation think that anything that hurts Planned Parenthood, the leading provider of abortions, would further the pro-life cause. But their proposal — defunding all Planned Parenthood operations in retribution for secret videos showing the group’s officials discussing the sale of fetal organs — would do far greater harm to fetuses than anything discussed in the videos. There already is...

Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would “certainly not give up” the possibility of running as a third-party candidate if he is not treated “fairly” by the GOP.

Cook County Assessor (and Democratic Central Committee Chairman) Joe Berrios just cost the taxpayers $529,000 – the settlements we’ll be paying to 11 county workers he fired so he could replace them with family members and political cronies. Berrios said he didn’t know the firings were impermissible because “I thought they were all at-will employees.” Considering that political hirings and firings have been illegal for 40 years, Berrios should have known better. Most likely, he doesn’t care. When questioned about his hiring practices, Berrios claims he’s not subject to county ethics rules that prohibit nepotism. Then he asks why his...

No introductions are needed when the law firm of Crane and Norcross goes to Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios asking him to lower the value he’s placed on properties owned by the firm’s clients. The Chicago law firm comes to Berrios to lower the property assessments on hundreds of properties across the city and suburbs each year, saving some of its clients as much as $100,000 or more in property taxes as a result. Since September 2009, when he launched his first campaign for assessor, Berrios’ campaign funds have gotten $60,900 in contributions from employees of Crane and Norcross, records...

Seriously ladies and gentlemen, I haven’t been this excited about a republican presidential candidate since 1980, when Ronald Reagan wiped the floor with Jimmy Carter’s saggy butt! Love him or hate him, you must admit that Donald Trump is exciting the CRAP out of the silent majority and he’s the hot topic regarding the 2016 presidential race. We DON’T NEED anymore wussy-assed, namby-pamby, politically correct candidates for president. We need a man who is a LEADER and knows how to make the correct critical decisions to benefit this nation. I personally am SICK TO DEATH with “progressives” in BOTH the...

CNN)—A manhunt is underway for a suspect who fatally shot a police officer during a traffic stop in Tennessee, authorities said Sunday. Memphis Police Officer Sean Bolton, 33, was shot multiple times Saturday night by a person who was in the car he pulled over, police said.The assailant remains at large, Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said.

How very fascist. So, Obama is saying that if Congress doesn’t play ball on approving the Iran deal, he might just go ahead and do it anyway. That violates the Constitution and the law. Technically he can’t do it – oh, but he will. Notice how Kerry sidestepped the issue? If Obama does this and isn’t made to answer for it or stopped, that’s the end of our Constitutional Republic and the actual beginning of a dictatorship. Even if a conservative is elected in 2016, by then $150 to 200 billion will have gone to Iran, effectively arming our enemies...

This week, the Republican-led House passed a bill, the “PASSPORT REVOCATION ACT,” to give President Barack Obama the power to revoke or deny passports to individuals who his administration SUSPECTS may be affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations. While the bill sounds sensible, in that preventing possible radicals from fleeing into the arms of the Islamic State group makes sense, it gives Obama the right to deprive Americans of their constitutional rights without a jury trial. The bill allows the government to effectively ROB you of your passport if it THINKS you are guilty, regardless of whether you are actually guilty....

President Barack Obama will impose steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants across the country than previously expected, senior administration officials said Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming. The Obama administration is expected to finalize the RULE at a White House event on Monday, a year after proposing UNPRECEDENTED carbon dioxide limits. Obama, in a video posted on Facebook, said the limits were backed up by decades of data and facts showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating...

Donald Trump has jumped to the front of Republicans’ 2016 presidential candidate field nationally, holding that position even after a spate of incendiary comments by the real-estate magnate about Mexican migrants, other GOP candidates and party leaders, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found. The poll found that 19% of Republican primary voters picked Mr. Trump as their first choice for president, followed by 15% for Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and 14% for Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who led the field in the last Journal/NBC survey, in June. The new poll, whose full results will be released...

Perhaps weâ€™d muddle through as a republic if the federal government stopped using Planned Parenthood as a contractor, but not everyone in Congress is convinced. As the Senate moves to debate whether to end federal subsidies for the abortion industry leader, Susan Collins wonders where women will go to get â€śwomenâ€™s health servicesâ€ť: Republicans have seized on a series of controversial undercover videos that show officials at the abortion rights organization discussing the price of fetal tissue to argue that all federal funding should be cut off from Planned Parenthood.But even members of McConnellÂ’s party have their doubts that...

Although many commentators – and the Republican Party’s leadership – believe that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party’s nominee, I’m not so sure. The ultimate proof? Look no further: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his associates have begun to actively explore a possible presidential campaign, which would upend the Democratic field and deliver a direct threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton, several people who have spoken to Mr. Biden or his closest advisers say." Biden and his buddies have started talking to Democratic leaders and donors because the latter are worried by Clinton’s “increasingly visible vulnerabilities as a...

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has slashed tolls on the state’s highways, canceled Baltimore’s long-planned Red Line light-rail project and, last week, dramatically announced the closure of the city’s deeply troubled Men’s Detention Center. Hogan, Maryland’s first Republican governor in nearly a decade, did not need the backing of the Democratic-controlled state legislature for any of those decisions. He announced them on his own, deriding inaction by past administrations and acknowledging that he had made little effort to seek Democratic legislative leaders’ input before he acted. The governor’s in-your-face approach contrasts with the pledges of bipartisanship he made after his election...

Futurism is when experts make educated, knowledgeable predictions about where humanity is going in the future. It is a growing and important field used by many national and transnational organizations to help give them an edge over competitors. The military is deeply involved in futurism, trying to gain an advantage over future potential enemies. Banks and hedge funds, also for similar reasons. Nation-states and governments spend substantial amounts of money in futurist-orientated research each year. Futurists examine trends and attempt to extrapolate where these trends may lead. It is a fascinating field and anybody who spends any time looking at...

NEW YORK (AP) — President Barack Obama will impose even steeper cuts on greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants than previously expected, senior administration officials said Sunday, in what the president called the most significant step the U.S. has ever taken to fight global warming..... Obama, in a video posted to Facebook, said the limits were backed up by decades of data and facts showing that without tough action, the world will face more extreme weather and escalating health problems like asthma."Climate change is not a problem for another generation," Obama said. "Not anymore."In his initial proposal, Obama had...

The renewed national scrutiny of the Confederate flag has officials again considering changing the name of Utah’s Negro Bill Canyon, though the title that some find offensive is a point of historical pride for others. Grand County Councilwoman Mary McGann said the name of the picturesque canyon in southern Utah is outdated at best. “We should evolve,” she said Wednesday.

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – A simple trip to the store ended with a veteran getting a hateful letter left on his car. When a local Iraq War veteran went shopping Thursday morning, he did not expect to find an anonymous note with ugly language left on his car. The letter blasted the Marine for having a Purple Heart and serving overseas. It stated, “All of you Islamaphobe vets deserve to die.” The note has people shaking their heads. Some call the author pathetic. “It’s just shocking,” Ann Lanoir said. “It’s just ignorant. That’s the way I feel. I feel like...

DANA POINT, Calif. — Scott Walker said Saturday that he loves the “team of rivals” concept employed by Abraham Lincoln when it comes to building a cabinet. The Wisconsin governor told mega donors at the Koch donor network summit here that he would look to other Republicans seeking the nomination if elected, specifically former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and “any of the governors I’ve worked with.” “There’s a great team of people I’d take from this field of candidates,” he said. “We could plug them right into the next administration.” Asked if there is a...

Conservative billionaire Charles Koch told his ultra-rich friends that they face a “life and death” decision whether to keep lobbying for tax breaks and government subsidies. “Business leaders (must) recognize that their behavior is suicide, that it is suicide long term. To survive, long-term, they have to start opposing, rather than promoting, corporate welfare,” Koch told about 450 allies at an Orange County, Calif., summit that began Saturday. ....“Obviously, this prescription will not be an easy pill for many business people to swallow. Because short term, taking the principled path is going to cost some companies some profits, as it...

Why won’t the Obama administration call Fort Hood Islamic Terrorism? Why aren’t they calling Chattanooga Islamic Terrorism? Because it’s disrespect to Muslims and Islam is about peace: ARUTZ SHEVA – Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson announced the policy this past Friday at Aspen Institute’s annual security forum in Washington, D.C. He explained that though it was a Muslim terrorist who shot to death four unarmed Marines in Tennessee two weeks ago, the government will call the attack, and other similar ones, “violent extremism” and not “Islamic terrorism” – out of respect for the Muslim community. Johnson said it is “critical”...

Through an acquaintance, I learned about a Vietnamese television show, "The Separation Never Seems to Have Existed," which reunites people who have lost touch. When the producer heard of my quest, she asked me, via e-mail, to write a letter stating my intentions and the circumstances surrounding the dogfight. Within two weeks she had found the MiG pilot, and invited me to Vietnam to appear on television with him. On April 5, 2008, on live television, my heart pounded as Nguyen Hong My—the man I had last seen in a black flightsuit, swinging under a red and white canopy—walked onto...

LITTLETON, N.H. — Former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) was in his element Saturday — giving hugs, posing for pictures and shaking hands beside an oversized picnic pavilion at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post here in Littleton. He was asking Granite Staters for their votes in the first-in-the-nation primary. But this time, not for himself. “Lindsey Graham, he’s my man!” McCain declared with a chuckle,...

President Obama signed a three-month highway bill Friday while chastising Congress for failing to approve long-term transportation funding and other legislative business before lawmakers’ summer vacation. “We can’t keep on funding transportation by the seat of our pants,” Mr. Obama told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s a bad way for the U.S. government to do business. I guarantee you that’s not how China, Germany and other countries around the world handle their infrastructure.”

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service vowed in a Senate hearing this week that the federal agency will not strip Christian colleges and universities of their tax-exempt statuses should those institutions refuse to update school policies to be more accommodating toward gay marriages. Following the Supreme Court decision in June that nationally legalized same-sex marriages, fears have dramatically risen that Christian colleges and institutions could be stripped of their tax-exempt statuses if they don't compromise their biblical beliefs on the subject of same-sex marriage. But IRS Commissioner, John Koskinen, told Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, in a Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee...

Even a company that named its top beer after a hero of the American Revolution may eventually forsake its home country. Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams beer and Angry Orchard hard cider, would be worth more to a foreign owner unburdened by the US tax structure, founder Jim Koch told a Senate committee on Thursday. Because of that, Koch says he regularly gets pitches from investment bankers looking to strike a sale. He’s been turning them down — for now. “We don’t mind paying our taxes here in the US in gratitude for the opportunities that exist...

Judge Emmett Sullivan, who is hearing the FOIA lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch, has put Hillary Clintonâ€™s top aides Human Abedin and Cheryl Mills (and their boss Hillary) on the spot, in a ruling JW president Tom Fitton describes as a â€śblockbuster.â€ťÂ Judicial Watch summarizes (the text of the order appears below): Judicial Watch announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the U.S. State Department to request that Hillary Clinton and her top aides confirm, under penalty of perjury, that they have produced all government records in their possession, return any other government records immediately, and...

LONDON — More than 4,500 vehicles are stuck along one of Britain’s main highways, caught in the chaos over efforts by desperate migrants to make their way through the Channel Tunnel from the French port city of Calais, 31 miles away. Another 4,500 cars and trucks are stuck on the other side of the English Channel. Food is rotting, drivers are exasperated and commerce is delayed. Would-be vacationers bound for the Continent are furious, and the British news media is on a rampage, with The Daily Mail wondering how migrants could invade Britain when Hitler could not and calling for...

In the days of the early church – I’m thinking specifically of the 2nd century – Christian apologists had to defend the faith against false charges, accusations, and misrepresentations. One such apologist, Athenagoras (d. 200 AD?), wrote a booklet to Roman rulers called A Plea for the Christians. This apology by Athenagoras is still quite relevant today because it discusses things we still talk about today. I’ll come back to this booklet later, but for now I want to point out what this 2nd century Christian apologist said about sexual immorality and homosexuality. Athenagoras refuted the claim or accusation that...

After shooting down the state's request for disaster aid for the second time last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Maryland could recover costs associated with rioting that broke out after the death of Freddie Gray in other ways. Federal government denies disaster Baltimore riot aid again Federal government denies disaster Baltimore riot aid again The state and city have unspent money from two other FEMA programs that could be reprioritized, an agency spokesman said. Under the State Homeland Security Grant Program, the state has $251,049 in fiscal year 2013 funds and $5.9 million in fiscal year 2014 funds...

* Gentry worked with children at the Shandon Presbyterian child development center * A children’s home in India will be named after him when completed next year * The Clemson grad was preparing to go to nursing school Tim Gentry was the kind of guy who could look into a person’s heart and see what was good, even if they couldn’t see it themselves. That’s the way his younger sister described her brother — as “a shining soul,” who always had a smile on his face and a kind word for everyone he met. Gentry, 32, was gunned down on...

A federal judge late Friday granted a temporary restraining order against the release of recordings made at an annual meeting of abortion providers. The injunction is against the Center for Medical Progress, the group that has unveiled Planned Parenthood’s participation in the sale of organs harvested from aborted children. Judge William H. Orrick, III, granted the injunction just hours after the order was requested by the National Abortion Federation. Orrick was nominated to his position by hardline abortion supporter President Barack Obama. He was also a major donor to and bundler for President Obama’s presidential campaign. He raised at least...

When President Obama signed a law yesterday funding federal transportation projects for the next three months, he lamented that the United States did not have a five-year federal plan for transportation—and warned Congress that “big, powerful countries” like the Peoples Republic of China did not do it the way the U.S. is doing it now. “I guarantee you this is not how China, Germany, other countries around the world—other big, powerful countries around the world—handle their infrastructure,” Obama said. …

DALLAS (Reuters) - A Texas Christian University (TCU) student has been disciplined after posting online comments seen as racially offensive about current events, including rioting in Baltimore and the rise of the Islamic State, TCU officials said on Friday. TCU said Harry Vincent, a 19-year-old sophomore, violated two Student Code of Conduct provisions concerning "infliction of bodily or emotional harm" and "disorderly conduct." He has seen his campus access restricted by receiving a one-year suspension from extra-curricular activities, on-campus living and the use of non-academic facilities such as the cafeteria and recreational center. Among the comments are a Facebook post...

Sen. Bob Menendez has introduced legislation to curb trophy hunting of endangered and threatened species after the demise of Cecil, an African lion whose death at the hands of an American hunter touched off a social media firestorm. The Conserving Ecosystems by Ceasing the Importation of Large Animal Trophies Act would extend restrictions on the import and export of animals that are being considered for inclusion under the Endangered Species Act. Currently, the restrictions apply only to animals already on the list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had suggested the African lion be listed as “threatened” in October, but...

Though a New York judge ruled Thursday that the law still considers chimpanzees property, not people, a prominent thinker in the pro-life movement warned that attempts to raise animals to human status will continue. Wesley J. Smith, co-director of the Discovery Institute's Center on Human Exceptionalism, said Friday, "We are gratified that a court refused to declare two chimpanzees 'persons.' That is right and proper. Chimps are animals, and the 'species barrier' separating the value of humans and animals, as some animal rights advocates put it, must never be breached." "But make no mistake," Smith said. "Attempts to...

PLEASE CONTACT YOUR SENATOR/REPRESENTATIVE NOW PLEASE EVEN IF YOU DON'T YOURS WILL LISTEN.... THEN PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!!!! WASHINGTON, D.C., July 28, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) -- Political drama continues to unfold on Capitol Hill as a third video exposing Planned Parenthood's fetal parts business was released Tuesday morning. In the Senate, Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell -- the Senate Majority Leader -- and presidential candidate Rand Paul were at odds over the weekend on defunding Planned Parenthood. Paul attempted to include an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood in the Senate's transportation bill. This would require 50 votes and put defunding into "must-pass" legislation....

"....“This court has been asked whether the immediate implementation of an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution concerning the structure of its court system offends the United States Constitution.Federal review of the action of a state—acting in its capacity as a sovereign government—is sharply limited, and the court does not require perfection of expression or purity of motive,” Peterson writes in his conclusion. “The amendment passes constitutional muster, even if implemented immediately to remove Abrahamson from the position of chief justice.”"

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the U.S. State Department to request that Hillary Clinton and her top aides confirm, under penalty of perjury, that they have produced all government records in their possession, return any other government records immediately, and describe their use of Hillary Clinton’s email server to conduct government business. The court issued the ruling late today after holding a status hearing in a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information lawsuit that sought records about Huma Abedin, the former Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

The audience, comprised of more than 200 students from around the nation, was thrilled to hear from one of the most influential minds in the conservative movement. In his speech, Levin discussed many of the ideas put forth in his new book, Plunder and Deceit, which is already winning accolades from many notable conservatives. [Boehner] is essentially delivering for Barack Obama everything Barack Obama wants. Just because you’re dressed up as a Republican doesn’t make it so… By his actions, he has demonstrated that he is not a conservative. He spends his time with [Rep. Kevin] McCarthy (R-CA) and [Rep....